A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and equipment for use in conjunction with dogs used for guard duties, law enforcement activities and search and rescue operations. More particularly, the invention relates to a dog muzzle having functions and accessories remotely controllable by law enforcement and other authorized personnel.
B. Description of Background Art
Larger, aggressive dogs such as German Shepherds and the like are widely used by police, military and security personnel throughout the world. Such dogs, commonly referred to as police dogs, are used to perform search and rescue activities, and to locate persons suspected of crimes, using their keen sense of smell, hearing and sight. When appropriately trained, police dogs also are effective in subduing suspects, especially those that have attempted to secrete themselves in locations that are difficult to access by police personnel. Thus, police dogs may be used to rout suspects hiding under vehicles, within confined spaces such as tunnels or crawl spaces within buildings, and similar locations. However, there are problems associated with the use of police dogs to apprehend criminal suspects.
Civil and criminal suits have been brought against law enforcement agencies that have employed police dogs which have bitten suspects during their apprehension. Thus, economic considerations alone would be a sufficient motivation to solving the dog bite problem. Moreover, it would be desirable for humanitarian as well as public relations considerations to be able to utilize the unique capabilities of police dogs for apprehending or subduing suspects, without causing physical harm to the suspect. Because of the foregoing concerns, some law enforcement agencies have resorted to equipping their dogs used in police work with muzzles. However, a disadvantage of that approach is the fact that criminal suspects are less likely to submit to apprehension by a dog that is muzzled and therefore unable to bite the suspect. Accordingly, a problem has existed with prior art methods of effectively utilizing police dogs for criminal apprehension and crowd control, while still preventing the dogs from inflicting physical injuries on suspects or members of a crowd. The present invention was conceived of as a solution to that problem.